This article is part of an ongoing series tracking the Arkansas Abortion Amendment of 2024 and examining its effects on state law.
The group Arkansans for Limited Government is collecting petition signatures to place the Arkansas Abortion Amendment on the November ballot.
If passed, the amendment would write abortion into the Arkansas Constitution, and it could legalize as many as 3,000 or more elective abortions in the state every year. The measure contains sweeping health exceptions for abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy, and it nullifies all state abortion laws that conflict with the amendment.
From 1989 to 2015 the Arkansas Legislature passed a series of laws requiring abortionists to notify the parents and obtain parental-consent before performing an abortion on an underage girl. Laws like these help protect children from exploitation.
By writing abortion into the constitution, the Arkansas Abortion Amendment of 2024 could jeopardize commonsense abortion restrictions like Arkansas’ parental notification and parental consent laws — meaning it could be possible for an abortionist to perform an abortion on a teenage girl without even telling the girl’s parents.
Is that really something the People of Arkansas want to do?
That’s simply one example of how the Arkansas Abortion Amendment of 2024 could cause lawmakers and voters to lose the ability to enact abortion restrictions — including basic restrictions that people on both sides of the aisle have supported in the past.
You can download a copy of the amendment here.
Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.